The present invention deals with the automation involved in accepting orders sent via instant messenger and from cell phone text messaging, and contemplates an automated system for receiving pizza orders that originate on Simple Message System (SMS) or web browser equipped cell phones, a web based system to pre-configure customer information, a database method to assemble messages in real-time, and a method for transmitting these orders to intended stores using pull mechanism via hyper text transport protocol with dynamic security for low cost, and ease of installation, management and maintenance. The invention generally relates to electronic ordering of products and services, including time sensitive food products, using computers and cell phones.
In the food industry, point of sales systems have been available for the past ten or so years that are able to keep track of customer names, addresses, and order history. An example of this is National Systems TMS® which was introduced in 1986 and has processed more than approximately sixty billion dollars worth of pizza orders since that time. A point-of-sale (POS) system presents an order form to store employees, and they enter codes into the system in pre-defined screen locations to place orders.
In 1996, a QuikOrder® system made it possible for customers to place pizza orders on the Internet by filling in elements on a web form using their home computer and a browser. These orders were automatically entered into the TMS system.
The ability to place orders for pizza using a cell phone, using technology from a company named KARGO called the 9-grid, which presented a form and assisted in the order entry process was demonstrated by QuikOrder® in 2000 at the CTIA show during Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
A pizza store owner, in 2005, at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. accepted text messages from customers to order pizza, which he would then enter into his TMS system for processing. An embodiment of the invention provides a system and method to eliminate the manual steps involved in accepting orders sent via instant messenger and from cell phone text messaging.
There are a wide variety of signaling mechanisms in the cell phone and computer industry. In most cases however they consist of setting up an account with personal information, account code, and password for access, and then logging in to a server where the user can engage in error-checked challenge and response systems that establish communication, send a message, receive an acknowledgement that the message was received intact, and, often, a turnaround request for a reply. Communication channels can be simplex, where only one side can talk at one time, or duplex, where both sides can send and receive simultaneously.
In the simplex instance, care must be taken so that one side does not send transmissions while the other side is talking. In the duplex instance, care must be taken so that one party does not to get out of sequence with the other party, since any latency in transmission could cause messages to arrive in what appear to be an inconsistent sequence. These systems today are referred to as “instant messaging” or “text messaging”.
In the previous systems, POS and Internet ordering, forms are used to provide context and sequencing for the order process. For example, an order for a pizza with sausage and mushroom, breadsticks, a two-liter soda, and an order of wings, would be entered into a form that provided a context and discrete checking for content by attribute. For example, a form might have the following attributes:
QuantitySizeItemToppings1largethinsausage, mushrooms, onion1mediumpanpepperoniQuantitySideOptions2breadstxcheeseQuantityItemTypeSauce1wingsbone-inbar-b-q
In a touchscreen POS system, these codes would be represented by buttons displayed on the screen that, when touched, would present further options. In a web based system, these options might actually be pictures of the items themselves, and when these images are selected, e.g., by being clicked on with a mouse, the order elements are updated based on the selection.
The form provides the context for the computer system to understand what is being ordered. Without context, the codes do not have any meaning. For example, to express “bone-in” and “bar-b-q sauce” an abbreviated code for both elements might be “b”—in this context, it is the position in the form where the “b” is entered that determines how the computer understands what is intended.
Presenting a form on a small form factor device such as a cell phone display which is limited in width, or an instant messaging text window which is typically limited in depth because it is designed to take up a small portion of the user's screen, makes it essential that an ordering solution take up as little room as possible.
To meet this challenge a number of conventions have been created to make it possible to communicate ideas using very few characters, or in some cases with symbols, or shorthand.
For example, common expressions that are used in instant message can be expressed by using just the first letter of each word in a phrase:                Talk To You Later=TTYL        Laughing Out Loud=LOL        Rolling On The Floor Laughing=ROTFL        Thank You=TY        OK=K        
These contractions are easy to learn, use and understand, and the present an example of how much time might be saved by a tokenized order system. Yet a tokenized order system requires special syntax and grammar that the user would not normally encounter in an online chat discussion, and further must be explicit and defined enough to communicate the user's request with 100% accuracy to the remote computer system.